Method and apparatus for the continuous spinning of artificial silk



p 1942- E. SELLNER 2,294,871

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE CONTINUOUS SPINNING OF ARTIFICIAL SILK Filed July 18,1940

gwue/rvfon fie/c 5544 N52 Patented Sept. 1, 1942 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE con- TINUOUS SPINNING OF ARTIFICIAL SILK Erich Sellner, Wuppertal-Barmen, Germany, as-

signor to American Bemberg Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application July 18, 1940, Serial No. 346,202 i y In Germany July 19, 1939 4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in methods for the continuous spinning of artificial silk threads.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method and an arrangement of apparatus for practising said method both being adapted to. permit the spinning, liquid treatment and winding of a plurality of individual artificial silk threads atthe same time on the same machine.

More especially the invention contemplates the provision of means for-conducting a p1u-' rality of simultaneously, freshly produced threads over a system of skewed rollers of which the rollers rotate in the same direction so that the threads are caused to travel or wander laterally in spiral r helical fashion from oneend of the roller system to the other, all of the several individual threads performing the same spiral or helical lateral wandering simultaneously, means being provided for keeping the threads separated from each other during said wandering and means also being provided for chemically treating and washing said threads while they are passing in lateral wandering fashion over said roller system..

In the prior art, proposals have already been made for the continuous so-called wet spinning method of producing artificial threads from solutions of cellulose and derivatives thereof such as esters and ethers, such methods consisting in passing a plurality of freshly spun threads in spiral or helical fashion over one or more pairs of" skewed rollers, that is, rollers ro-. tating in the same direction but whereof the axes intersect or cross, the threads being sub-, jected to liquid treatment while passing over the roller system. These threads are obtained simultaneously from a number of spinning nozzles, preferably adjacently situated, and they pass together over the same rollers in screwthread like looped fashion, thus permitting the threads are being started on the forwarding and take-up devices, it is often very diflicult to keep them apart. I

In accordance with the present invention, these difficulties are obviated by means of the auxiliary arrangements herein described, the same being explained in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawing,

' In the drawing, Fig. 1 shows a view of an illustrative embodiment of an apparatus adapted for practising the method of the invention and illustrating the spinning nozzles, the roller system, liquid treating means and the take-up devices. Fig. 2 is a side view of the roller system.

The artificial silk threads produced for example from cuprammonium cellulose solution (although the method is applicable also to other varieties of artificial silk) are obtained from a suitable number of spinning nozzles or funnels, say three, for example. In the drawing, the spinning funnels are indicated by l, I, I" and the artificial threads issuing therefrom by 2, 2', 2", the said funnels being distributed longitudinally of the machine anddispesed directly adjacent'each other. The threads are conducted over the common guide bar 3 and passed over the common and positively driven guide roller 4 whereupon they, pass to the pair of skewed rollers 5, 6 over which they pass in the form of parallel, separate helical windings, afterwhich they run over the idler guide rollers 'l and l to the three separate winding devices consisting of positively driven spools 9, 9' and 9"; the windings as they are shown passing over the rollers 5, 6 being illustrated as considerably spread apart for the sake of clarity in illustration.

The freshly spun, artificial silk threads may be treated with spinning acid or cupric ammonium sulphate solution as they pass in one or more convolutions over the positively driven roller 4, such treatment being effected during travel upon the roller surface. Suitable liquid delivering means of known type, e. g. applicators, sprays, pipes, valves, cocks and the like (not shown) may be used for this purpose, a trough I! being provided to catch the excess liquid. The final removal of copper or othersalts and the final washing is accomplished in the usual manner while the threads are present upon the pair of skewed rollers, suitable liquid delivering or applying means of known type being likewise provided atthis p int, as diagrammatically indicated by the cock l3.

The roller 1, which is preferably an idler roller, is provided with three parallel grooves correspending to the three artificial silk threads and this roller may be kept moistened with brightening liquid for the purpose of brightening the.

thread. The threads thus thoroughly purified and ,-preli'minarily prepared then pass over the guide .lowed to shrink freely.

In stringing up the machine for operation, the following procedure is followed:

One of the threads, e. g. 2, coming from the, funnel i, is first passed over the guide bar 3 and roller 4 and conducted to the pair of skewed rollers 5 6 around which pair of rollers the thread is draped or looped in helical form; the thread is caused by rotation of the-rollers 5, 6 to wind up in screw thread like or helical fashion and to face toward the free end of the pair of rollers. Before this can occur, however, a bar Ill, running substantially parallel to one of the skewed rollers is positioned in such a manner that the thread convolutions on one side of the pair of skewed rollers will be pressed slightly inwardly out of the tangential direction. While the first helix (that of thread 2) is being formed upon the pair of rollers (or after it has been completely formed) the second thread 2' is applied in similar helical fashion around the pair of rollers and the helical turns formed are similarly pressed inwardly and are displaced even more out of the tangential direction by a bar II as depicted in Fig. 2. This bar is positioned below the bar I0 and is similarly substantially parallel to one of the pair of rollers. While the second helix (that of thread 2') is being formed along the pair of rollers (or after it has been completely formed) the third thread 2" is passed in helical fashion around the pair of rhllers so that it will wind and travel up on said pair of rollers in free and unhindered fashion, i. e., without being pressed inwardly out of the tangential direction by either the bar In or the bar I I. The threads reaching the upper end of the skewed pair of rollers are taken off in order, individually assed over the guide rollers I and 8 and wound up on their respective reels.

The invention therefore provides a reliable means for simplifying and cheapening spinning machines and especially forutilizing the relatively expensive skewed rollers in multiple fashion as by running two, three, or even four separate threads in parallel through said machine. By this arrangement and means the various threads may with safety be caused to travel in parallel relation to each other with a separation of only a few millimeters between them and thus control their passage over the rollers in order to insure uniformity of treatment thereof. The passage control and guiding of the threads is soreliable and uniform that the spun products obtained possess uniform physical properties.

What I claim is:

1. The method of simultaneously spinning, from a 'cellii'losic solution, a plurality of individual rayon threads comprising: spinning atleast two separate threads from a conventional spinning solution, progressively conveying one of said freshly spun threads around a pair of spaced, oomotive rotating surfaces as a traveling open helix having a pitch equal to several times the diamter of said thread, progressively conveying the other freshly spun thread around same pair of rotating surfaces as a traveling open helix of substantially identical pitch extent interwound.

with said first helix in non-contact therewith,

simultaneously applying a treating fluid to cor-- responding, substantially equal interwound -portions of each of said helixed threads as moved along said spaced rotating surfaces, and individually unwinding the threads from said spaced rotating surfaces after said'liquid treatment while maintaining said non-contacting relationship therebetween.

2. An apparatus for simultaneously spinning, from a cellulosic solution, a plurality of individual rayon threads comprising: a pair of rollers arranged side-by-side in spaced relation, means for driving said rollers to rotate at corresponding peripheral speeds, means for spinning at least two separate threads from a conventionalspinning solution, means for progressively directing one of said freshly spun threads around and along said pair of rotated rollers as a traveling along said rotating rollers, and thread take-up means for each of said threads operative to maintain non-contact of said treated threads as progressively removed from said rollers.

3. An apparatus for' simultaneously spinning,

from a cellulosic solution, a plurality of individual rayon threads comprising: a pair of cylindrical rollers arranged side-by-side in spaced skewed relation, means for driving said cylindrical rollers to rotate at substantially identical peripheral speeds, means for spinning at least two separate threads from a conventional spinning solution, means for progressively directing one of said freshly spun threads around and along said pair of rotated rollers as a traveling open helix having a pitch equal to several times the diameter of said thread and for progressively directing the other freshly spun thread to the same pair of rotated rollers as a traveling open helix of substantially identical pitch and extent interwound with said first helix in non-contact therewith, said thread-directing means including a bar disposed in a plane substantially tangent to one of said paired rollers and adapted for association with said helices such as to displace the thread sections thereof passing through said plane alternately inward and alternately outward with respect thereto, means for applying a treating liquid to corresponding substantially equal interwound portions of each of said helixed threads as moved along said rotating rollers, and threadreeling means for each of said threads operative to maintain non-contact of said treated threads as progressively removed from said rollers.

4. An apparatus for simultaneously spinning, from a oellulosic solution; a plurality of individual rayon threads comprising: a pair of cylindrical rollers arranged side-by-side in spaced skewed relation, means for driving said cylindrical rollers to rotate at substantially identical peripheral speeds. means for spinning at least two separate threads from a conventional spinning solution, means for progressively directing one of said freshly spun threads around and along said pair of rotated rollers as a traveling open helix having a pitch equal to several times the diameter of said thread and for progressively directing the other freshly spun thread to the same pair of rotated rollers as a traveling open helix of substantially identical pitch and extent interwound with said first-helix in non-contact therewith, said thread-directing means including a pair of parallel spaced bars disposed in a plane substantially tangent to one of said paired rollers and adapted for sequentially-varied displacing association with the bar-traversing thread sections, means for applying a treating liquid to corresponding substantially equal interwound portions of each of said helixed threads as moved along said rotating rollers, and thread-reeling means for each of said threads operative to maintain non-contact of said treated threads as progressively removed from said rollers.

ERICH SEILNER.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION,

Patent No. 2,29l+,87l. September 1, 19l 2.'

ERIca. SELLNER'.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed ape cification of the above numb'ereci patent requiring correction as follows: Page 2, first column, line 19, for the word "face" read "feedand that the saiei Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in .the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 6th day of October, A. n. 19!;2.

Henry Van Arsdale (Seal) Acting Commissioner oi Patents. 

